Bootlegger’s loading rickshaw lands his friend in police net

Ahmedabad Mirror | Feb 6, 2019, 06.15 AM IST

The bottles in the storage compartment of the modified vehicle

At one glance, it looks like an ordinary loading rickshaw. Except, it is modified to attach a separate compartment beneath its body to hold 214 bottles of foreign liquor. Interestingly, the rickshaw, which allegedly belongs to a bootlegger, was seized following a raid conducted at a businessman’s house in Memnagar by DG Vigilance Squad.

According to Ghatlodia police sources, the raid was conducted on Sunday night at the house of Chirag Patel, 46, a resident of Aadil Bungalow in Memnagar. The team found two loading rickshaws parked at the residence of the perfume businessman. A total of 214 bottles of foreign liquor worth Rs 63,178 were found in one of them. The rickshaw, claimed sources, was parked at Patel’s residence by his bootlegger friend from Vadodara.

The police took Chirag Patel in custody along with Vishnu Prajapati and Sureshkumar Prajapati, the drivers of the rickshaw. Four others are wanted in the case. The police arrested bootlegger Kaushik Patel, the main accused, from Vadodara on Tuesday night.

Police Inspector P M Gamit said, “Chirag knew Kaushik for a long time. So, he allowed the rickshaw to be parked there. He is a perfume trader and manufactures the perfumes in his own house. This is the first time he has been booked in any case. As the liquor was seized from his house, he was held for being party to the crime.”